By Landon Blackhall & Jeramie Williams
The Tasmanian poker scene has received a huge boost through the Australian Poker League (APL) after hosting the richest poker tournament ever staged in the state’s history.
The second rendition of the APLPT Tasmania series at Wrest Point Hobart generated $285,400 in total prize pools and broke the previous records for any single event in the Apple Isle.
The Main Event alone generated a total 497 entries and more than $73,000 in prize money, surpassing the last 3-Diamond tournament hosted at Australia’s first casino back in 2018.
APL Tasmania Managing Director Anthony Dickson told PokerMedia Australia that the immensely positive response from the entire state and all the mainland visitors was beyond anything they had could have possibly dreamed of.
“We were always confident this was going to be a big series, but to reach the heights that it did blew us all away.” Dickson said. “Wrest Point were amazing hosts, and we could not have wished for a better partnership. We look forward to running more poker events and APLPT series with them.”
Those sentiments were shared by WSOP bracelet winner and APL Brand Ambassador Jackie Glazier, who secured victory in her signature event – the Jackstar Super High Roller – after agreeing to a heads-up deal with David Bowen.
“I actually can’t thank the poker community enough for their support,” Glazier said. “To see everyone coming over from all over Australia means the world to me!”
Glazier was also amongst the throng of supporters to laud the efforts of Queensland’s Tayla Pickles, who broke through for her first mid-tier major title after winning the Deep Freeze.
It was a highly emotional moment for the career poker dealer, who has immersed herself into studying all facets of the game since giving up her job as a hairdresser in recent years.
“In the time that I’ve spent learning and working, I’ve tried so hard and put in so many hours and heaps of effort in,” she said.
“It’s been incredible to watch all the people I work with and play with achieve success, but it’s really satisfying to go through the process [yourself] and achieve a result like this!”
Malaysian-born Melburnian Sean Ooi also etched his name into the APLPT Almanac, winning both the NLH Terminator and Mini High Roller, however it was Tasmania’s own Sam Perkins who claimed gold in the biggest one of them all, surpassing his runner-up finishes to both Ooi and Pickles to win the Main Event.
It capped off a huge weekend for the 30-year-old disability support worker, who pocketed around $25,000 in cash and prizes which included a seat into the upcoming APL Million Main Event in August – and Perkins has flagged the possibility of taking on the mainlanders more often after that.
“It’s unbelievable! To finish on three final tables of the four events I played, its almost impossible.” Perkins said. “I went to a couple of these series last year at Club Italia [in Melbourne] and if I can make it happen, I’ll come across for another one or two every year now.”
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For more information, including updates, images, and results from all APLPT Tasmania II events, log onto playapl.com and watch all the feature table replays over at playapl.tv.
PokerMedia Australia: Official Media Partners of the APL Poker Tour & The APL Million
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